Sunday, April 23, 2017

First, a fun cartoon from the Wall Street Journal for anyone who has ever been to a doctor's office:



So, yesterday we toured with the Edison Ford Museum to Boca Grande, Gasparilla Island. On the route, there was a lecture by arborist Rick Joyce at the newly created Preserve At Placida, a 35-acre project boasting of 4,000 new trees at the former Mercury Outboard Testing Center. Then we had a private tour of the Boca Grande Lighthouse on the south tip of the island, and there was an additional info talk by a ranger discussing the types of shells found on our SW Florida beaches. Great luncheon in the Gasparilla Inn and tour with history of the site. We then visited the Boca Grande Historical Society, with yesterday's presentation covering the replacement swivel bridge completed last year. Toured Banuan Street and walked some of the neighborhood. You will see photos of one of the homes below. The owners graciously allowed us into their yard. The house began as an artist studio of the husband of a DuPont heir. They owned the whole block on Gilcrist, which orders the beach on the west side. Today there are approximately eight structures including the original residence continuous to the studio site. During the walking tour we encountered the newest church on the island, built in 1952. Our Lady of Mercy just happened to have 4 PM Mass so we stepped in rather than walk the t-shirt shops. So below I have entered photos of the inn and the yard.






The yard:





Mass:


So, a great diversion. This week I will try to start Beige and Blue to acompany my Black abstract. And, I have three small 8 x 10 landscapes 50% complete.


Friday, April 21, 2017

Finished another work. This is a view of Fort Myers Beach from 200 feet up in my mind.

Let me know what you think. Also, I think you can go to the link above and get on a list to be notified when new posts are created. 

Thursday, April 13, 2017

Had a good visit with my sister, Valerie, in PG. Pretty good Mexican restaurant. Last night worked on a couple of paintings, with nothing scheduled tomorrow,  maybe I can finish another one or two. I will check back with you tomorrow.

Sunday, April 09, 2017

STILL trying to finish a painting or two this weekend. Will post when they are ready. Meanwhile, saw a very professional and enjoyable concert Friday...it surprised me - Debby Boone with the SW FL Symphony Orchestra, 64 strong. She brought along her pianist and arranger, and drummer. Both had worked for years with her aunt-in-law, Rosemary Clooney. Gowns, story line, including a piece on her father on an Ed Sullivan Show, song selection, her enthusiasm, and how tight the guests worked with the symphony, very, very well coordinated. Might be their best POPs evening since we started attending 4 years ago.

Have received quite a few compliments on my newest abstract - Black. Much appreciated. Don't forget, if you would like to purchase a piece, contact me to discuss price, framing, and shipping & handling. It is fun to own a piece of original art. I will explain the background and thought process with you.

Friday, April 07, 2017

Finished an abstract in acrylic. A little larger than others at 16 x 20. It is fun to try new things.



Hope to finish one or two others this weekend.

Wednesday, April 05, 2017

This is a view of my studio. Hope the video works 😎

Finished a new painting, this one was my first attempt at an outdoor painting, started during my workshop in March with Morgan Samuel Price. The scene is a section of the beach at Delnor-Wiggins Pass State Park. During the workshop I started 4 works, all of which needed a lot of help when I returned home. They were all too dark and the drawing on three of them needed help. Hope to work on the other 3 over the next three weeks.



Listening to Rita Coolidge, Vince Gil, Sonny Landreth, and the Ventures long version of Sleepwalk. See you a few.


Art and Business:

And faith, I suppose.

Michael Novak died recently. He wrote on democracy, capitalism, and religion. He started out as a student of the left, worked on the George McGovern campaign. Over time he came to the opinion that "the left was wrong about virtually every big issue of our time". Authored The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism. 

I take this from the March 28, 2017 issue of Forbes magazine, Fact and Comment by the Editor-In-Chief, Steve Forbes. I encourage you to read the whole piece, but here goes what I think is the essence of his thought...

Novak had no rose-colored view of the system. "I would not want it to be thought that any system is the Kingdom of God on Earth. Capitalism isn't. Democracy isn't." Despite commerce's lowly, pedestrian status, he recognized that free markets enhance humanity by encouraging, without hardly being aware of it, interacting and working with each other in ways that produced prosperity and the opportunity for the previously oppressed to, as Lincoln put it, improve their lot in life. It gave people the chance to develop their particular talents. It encouraged a creativity that would enhance the lives of everyone. It had people looking to the future rather than to just the narrow here and now. Its end products are the opposite of greed, selfishness and miserliness - misers do not found the Microsofts, WalMarts and Apples of the world. 

Our Founders, Novak perceptively noted, based the new American Republic on free-market commerce because such a system attacked a sin even more deadly than hate: envy. "Hatred...is at least visible and universally recognized as evil. Envy seldom operates under its own name; it chooses a lovelier name to hide behind, and it works like a deadly invisible gas. In previous republics, it has set class against class, sections of cities against other sections."

By contrast, in a commercial society, "when persons see that their material conditions are actually improving from year to year...they stop comparing themselves tie their neighbors."

Think about it.